Holocaust Memorial Day 2010

Every year, Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD)  falls on the 27th of January.

I remember this same time last year very clearly.

I was at the public commemoration events held at the University of Sussex, listening to discussions on the definition of genocide. We had caught up with Stephen Smith from Beth Shalom as he was one of the speakers that evening. It wasn't the first time we had met though; we had been in meetings with him from the earliest conception phase of the Surviving History project. I remember we had just prepared the first edited clips from our interviews with Gita and Isroel. We met a colleague's of his and I remember promising her that I would send on further film when ready.

How time flies.

Since then, the project has concluded. We've got the exhibition up and running. It was launched in Vilnius in August 2009 and been on show in several places. The short film we made in collaboration with Woolfcub Productions to accompany the project, Surviving History, has been picked up for distribution by Journeyman Pictures and Parallel Lines. We haven't been broadcast yet though. Until now. It was really great that the Community Channel was going to air our documentary as part of its programming for HMD. (See link)



And what's just as cool is that, as you can see above, they took a section of our film and also Shivaun's narrative and used it as a voiceover to their program filler throughout the day!

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As part of the HMD's nationwide events, the traveling multimedia exhibition we created was hosted by Shropshire Council at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury between the 25th - 29th January. The council had found us through the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Shivaun and I went off to Shropshire the Friday before, on the 22nd January, to set up. We had to start off on our drive at 6 am. Why? Well, did you know it takes between 3 and a half hours to get there, or 4 hours if you stop for a coffee or fill up your tank? I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't take Google Maps at its word, you have to exercise some precaution :) I checked weeks earlier prior to our recce trip to suss out the location and space. It was supposed to take about 3 hours - which obviously you can't take at face value; you have to always add 30 to 45 minutes extra to give yourself a comfortable margin.

Anyways, we set up at the Foyer on the 1st floor of the Shirehall. Because it is open to the public and the legislative chambers are there, meeting rooms, council offices etc, we soon had people milling about and casting curious glances at the displays. Some became engrossed in the exhibits and a few people came to speak to us to ask about the project. Below are some of the photos from that day.

We had an unusual configuration as it was a foyer as opposed to a hall or a large room, as you will soon see...

 

Spacing the visual bio installations out so we wouldn't block the meeting room doors...

  

This visitor said she really enjoyed Josef's 'memory cupboard'

  

  

The film and 'video diaries' were played on a continuous loop.

At one point, I looked over towards Margarita's display and saw that her images was simultaneously on the projector screen. It made me think of her daughter and of the emotional opening in Vilnius, and of how we wished she could have been there. I feel an almost reverential pride for these displays each time I set them up; they don't feel like mere displays to me, more like memorials in a way. Mobile memorials.

When we went to dismantle on the 29th, Jane - our contact at Shropshire Council - was kind enough to compile a list of some of the comments and feedback they had received towards the exhibition.

Below, I have selected a few of those comments:

"I'm very impressed with the exhibition and wish that more people could see it. Maybe it could be in the town centre next time? Well done for getting it in Shropshire."

"A very moving exhibition which really brings home man's own inhumanity to man. Such exhibitions bring the holocaust into sharper focus and we should never forget the horror Margarita Civuncik is quoted as saying 'God save us so it doesn't happen again.' Unfortunately, such genocide has happened in my own life time in places like Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur, where the western world stood by and watched. What lessons have we learned?"

"Moving, thought provoking. How can one human being do this to another and yet it still goes on. This should be shown in schools and to those who perpetrate hate crimes. Thank you."

"A very poignant and moving exhibition. Real people, real horror, real terror. Do not forget!"

From such comments, I am even more convinced that HMD serves it purpose and is worth its weight in taxpayers' money. It makes us think about the crimes against humanity that we as a race of people are capable of, not just those that occurred in the past but those that are happening even now.